Monday, October 08, 2007

Have A Coke And A Smile

All eyes are on Greenland's melting glaciers as alarm about global warming spreads. This year, delegations of U.S. and European politicians have made pilgrimages to the fastest-moving glacier at Ilulissat, where they declare that they see climate change unfolding before their eyes.

Curiously, something that's rarely mentioned is that temperatures in Greenland were higher in 1941than they are today. Or that melt rates around Ilulissat were faster in the early part of the past century, according to a new study. And while the delegations first fly into Kangerlussuaq, about 100 miles to the south, they all change planes to go straight to Ilulissat -- perhaps because the Kangerlussuaq glacier is inconveniently growing.

It's amazing how many facts are "inconvenient" to the "Inconvenient Truth" crowd. Lomborg's article, and his new book, Chill Out, are must-reading for anyone who wants to have a rational discussion about climate change.

Alas, that doesn't include future congressbabe Niki Tsongas. Not only does she support the idiotic "kill 1 million jobs today to lower the Earth's temperature by o.3 degrees tomorrow," she can't even get the basic facts right on her campaign webpage.

She's wrong about Massachusetts losing 65 acres per year to rising sea levels. She's wrong when she links temperatures to West Nile Virus and Lyme disease. And she's utterly clueless when she claims that "the ten warmest years on record have occurred since 1995."

"The warmest year on record is now 1934. 1998 (once called the hottest year on record) moves to second place. 1921 takes third. In fact, 5 of the 10 warmest years on record now all occur before World War II."

Niki, if you've been watching the new Ken Burns documentary, you probably noticed how much of the footage is in black-and-white. That's because WWII occurred slightly before 1995.